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Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Please support Beti’s campaign by naming, shaming and challenging the Guinness Partnership on social
and in print media as the social cleansers and home wreckers that they
are; by attending the next public meeting of the Northwold Estate campaign,
which is being held from 7-9pm on Thursday, 8 December, in the
Community Hall (131 Upper Clapton Rd, Hackney, London E5 9SA), where you
will be able to hear Beti speak; and by giving her your active,
professional (if applicable) and even financial support as she takes on
the Guinness Partnership for her right to a home.

LanguageLine
has won NHS contracts in Sheffield, London and the Midlands by putting
in bids at below market rates. They are now imposing cuts of a third to
interpreters fees and reducing booking times by 1 hour.

It
is impossible to provide a high quality and safe service if you are
constantly clock watching. Deaf people, often need information to be
repeated after they leave an appointment to make sure everything has
been understood or will need support in accessing the pharmacy.
Appointments aren't always over when you leave the consulting room. That
extra level of care and support from

Interpreters will go if they are being pushed to get to the next appointment.

The
way in which home carers are being pressured to take more bookings for
less money is the way interpreting will be headed if we don't put a stop
to these cuts. This isn't about money for interpreters. This is about
deaf people's access to Heath care.

Dude Swheatie adds: In seeking guidance for a friend who was thinking of training as a British Sign Language Interpreter, I was advised a few years ago that the training is highly specialised, as Sign Language Interpreters register not just hand actions but also the facial gestures involved in conveying the message. Thus it takes about 5 years intensive training to train a British Sign Language Interpreter.

7.
Do you agree that the
SPT [Senior President of Tribunals] should be able to determine panel composition based on the changing
needs of people using the tribunal system?

Answer: No

Reasons stated

I won my ESA (Support) status through tribunal as part of a very long process that included decades of attempted career building after five years' seamless but unfulfilling salaried employment in which I received disablist bullying on a regular basis. Therefore my standpoint regarding what is appropriate and who should decide what is appropriate differs considerably from think tank Reform UK and its associates who are pushing for 'transformations' to both the welfare state and justice system in the UK that render economically vulnerable people all the more vulnerable.

Tribunal panels for disability benefit entitlements generally favour the claimant/apellant over the Department for Work & Pensions, and this factor embarasses both Government and privatisation-of-welfare-state corporations that are playing with others' lives. Tribunal results so far have countered the policy-based evidence-gathering of the privatisers of the welfare state. (Since this consultation was launched and very shortly before it's deadline, a further DWP 'welfare reform' consultation has been launched.)

My tribunal panel consisted of a judge and doctor and an advocate spoke for me while I was shaking with nerves. My disability charity-based advocate had been far more perceptive than the mental health charity-based Vocational Support Advisor (VSA) who had led me through the intial ESA50 form filling that had concluded with 0 eligibility points. At our first meeting identified my much slower than average speech delivery and though patterns and got me to rewrite my ESA50 with a focus on those than the secondary physical symptoms experienced when under stress.

Tribunal advocate's analysis was later expounded and substantiated by Camden Learning Disability Services (CLDS)-based tests, and insights of more than one mind had helped bring me to apply for ESA and get CLDS analysis. Those meetings had included

late 2008 jobcentre 'progress review' meeting with jobcentre worker and VSA. Jobcentre worker had intervened in crisis brought on by missing first 2005 signing-on appointment while I was awaiting result of pre-Christmas job interview

consultation with GP, her receptionist and my VSA. GP's receptionist vouched for council learning disability services' support that had helped her severely learning disabled son overcome 0 eligibility points rating from unproperly qualified disability assessors.

8.
In order to assist the
SPT to make sure that appropriate expertise is provided following the
proposed reform, which factors do you think should be considered to
determine whether multiple specialists are needed to hear individual
cases?

Please state your reasons and specify the jurisdictions and/or types of case to which these factors refer.

"... the
appropriate expertise in all disability cases is the current tribunal
composition. We recommend that the Ministry of Justice mandate the
SPT to continue to include a healthcare professional and disability
expert on panels for disability benefit appeals."

Crucially, organisations such as Z2K and Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group are left to help economically people 'pick up the pieces' after injustices have been done to them. Such organisations have theoretical sensitivity and human understanding that is severely lacking in those that regard the current inputs to tribunal panel composition as unnecessary costs to the public purse and counter to the privatisation of the welfare state that favours the American model of private health insurance. Perhaps drugs with the scale of failures exposed by current workings of disability benefit test regimes would have been barred from sale by now? "Those who give the order [do the initial dodgy assessments] seldom see the mess it makes."

I also note that all 'key decision makers' should realise that 'welfare reform' agendas have so far been conducted to the exclusion of reference to disabled people who were actively jobseeking long before the drive to eliminate the Incapacity Benefit safety net.

(My answers to the section about Impact and Equalities Impact Assessments are not included here.)

Weds 23 November As well as the Autumn Statement, this day will see
the announcement of how many people died last winter because they could not
afford to heat their homes – a scandal that is repeated year after year.

FPA will be joining the National
Pensioners Convention to mark last year’s winter deaths with black balloons
at 12.0 in College Green, and will then join and speak at the launch of Axe the Housing Act’s own Autumn Statement
in Old Palace Yard from noon.

The government yesterday dropped one important clause from the Housing
Act: “Pay to Stay”. It must now drop the
forced sale of Housing Association stock, which will push even more people into
cold damp homes where they have no recourse against exploitative private
landlords, and must bring back security of tenure in both private and social
housing. No fault and retaliatory evictions
mean many tenants are afraid to raise issues of
heating, hot water, draughts, bad insulation, and energy-guzzling equipment.

Thursday 24 November these points will be pressed home with an early
morning “Duvet Die–In” 8.30 at the offices of EDF, 80 Victoria St, where campaigners against
fuel poverty will join people whose primary focus has been the climate. For 8.15 meeting place, things to bring etc
see facebook event.

The government has hinted at moves to regulate rampant exploitation by
suppliers of gas and electricity providers.
We shall see. With thousands dying early every year, we are also waiting to see
what the Chancellor does

·to meet the legally binding fuel poverty target on
insulating homes,

·to end the illegal discrimination against users of
prepayment meters – often the customers on the lowest incomes - and against all
customers who cannot pay by direct debit,

Received
this rather worrying email. The European parliament have voted not to have a
debate on CETA [Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement — Canada and the EU] and are voting on Wednesday.If you’ve got the time, please take
part in this twitter action. If you haven't the time, could you please forward this on to someone who has?

Cheers

Phil
Fletcher

(Barnet
Green Party)

Please help stop CETA [Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement] by tweeting your MEPs and asking them to
vote FOR the Greens' proposal that the question of
the legality of ICS in CETA to be referred to the European Court of
Justice.

Thank you

Laura

MEPs voted on Monday 21.11.2016 afternoon
on whether there should be adebateon the issue of the European
Parliament asking for a European Court of Justice decision on the legality of
ICS (ISDS [Investor-State Dispute Settlement] in CETA)

before the European Parliament actually votes on
this, in Strasbourg , on
Wed.

The proposal for a debate was rejected by 184 votes
to 170 votes.

Consequently, there will NO debatebefore the vote on Wednesday.

(How bad can the institution of the EU get...?)

So it would be useful to contact your MEPs quickly and ask them to
vote FOR the Greens' proposal that the question of
the legality of ICS in CETA to be referred to the European Court of
Justice.

Friday, 18 November 2016

Z2K is short for Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, an Information, Advice, Guidance & Advocacy charity helping economically vulnerable people, mostly in the City of Westminster where it is located. It was co-founded by Revd Paul Nicolson who has since founded Taxpayers Against Poverty.

Fri 9 Dec, 7pmA Benefit for Tahiti – How the Mangrove 9 Won Hear from
participants of this historic trial of the Mangrove 9 which was landmark
in anti-racist movement in Britain. Money raised will go to Haiti
Emergency Relief Fund (HERF)
http://www.haitiemergencyrelief.org/Haiti_Emergency_Relief_Fund/home.html to benefit grassroots people in Haiti directly. At Trinity United Reform Church, Buck St, London NW1 8NJ

Guest blog post by Gill Thompson, sister of the late David Clapson. (David Clapson died after being found 'fit for work' and then sanctioned for inability to stick to a 'Claimant Commitment' that was not fit for humanity.)

David Clapson when he was a serving soldier

Update on David Clapson: sanctioned to death?

Hi,

As
many of you know, I have been campaigning for a long time to try and
achieve an investigation into the link between the benefit sanction
imposed on my brother and his death. I believe that having had his
benefits stopped due to a sanction, he was unable to afford to buy food
and electricity to refrigerate his insulin, which in turn left him
unable to manage his diabetes.

Unfortunately
despite the best efforts of my lawyers, the Coroner has refused to open
an investigation as he considers there is no evidence that the benefit
sanction played any role in my brother’s death. I am now preparing to
ask the High Court to consider my brother’s case and am raising money to
cover legal fees, including court fees and experts fees.

Please
share the link on social media and email it to 3 people who you think
would be interested to help me spread the word. Please also make a
pledge of £35 or whatever you can afford to the new case. Either of
these things will really help me to take this case to the High Court.

I
am very grateful for your support of my campaign so far. This is not
just about my brother. I want a Coroner to look at the DWP guidance on
people living with Diabetes and how the sanction regime is applied to
people with long term health conditions.

The UN has raised
concerns about the extent to which the UK government has made use of
sanctions in relation to benefits and the absence of due process and
access to justice for those affected by the use of sanctions. I hope you
can continue to support me in my fight to ensure David’s death is
properly investigated and action taken to prevent future deaths of
vulnerable people

Guest blog post by 38 Degrees — by way of copy and paste of e-mail content

Next Wednesday the government could go ahead with plans to cut support for hard-working families. The support - called Universal Credit - is supposed to help people earning low wages get by. [1] But the cuts could mean families having to choose between eating or heating their homes.

Right now, the new Chancellor Philip Hammond is finalising his plan for
the economy - he’ll announce it next week. [2] He could decide to
reverse the cuts - and MPs are already demanding he does. [3]. If thousands of us sign a huge petition, the added public pressure could convince Philip Hammond to scrap the cuts.

There’s only a week until he announces his plan so we haven’t got long. Please can you sign the petition now? It takes less than a minute:

These cuts will see some families lose £200 a month. [4] That’s an entire month’s food shop.
[5] And if they go ahead, it will mean if you get a promotion or do
more shifts, your family could end up worse off. It just doesn’t make
sense.

Together we’ve stood up to cuts like these before - and won. [6]When
the government tried to cut tax credits for hard-working families last
year, we forced them to back down. It started with a huge petition,
signed by people like you. It ended with relief for thousands of people
across the UK.

Philip Hammond is already feeling the pressure over these cuts. If one
of us asks him to reverse them, it might not be enough to convince him.
But if thousands of us add our names to one huge petition, it’ll be hard for Philip Hammond to ignore.

No more deaths from benefit cuts — Gill thompson launches legal case for brother David Clapson

Gill
Thompson’s legal case for her brother David, who was diabetic and died in
2013 after his Jobseekers Allowance was sanctioned, has just been launched.
Gill's legal team wrote to the Hertfordshire Coroner setting out why there
should be an investigation, including of breach of the right to life and of
DWP procedure sanctioning claimants (see Leigh Day press release).David’s death was
put down to “natural causes” and there was no inquest.Public support throughCrowdJustice fundraising has enabled this challenge.

In
October, at the people’s premiere of Ken Loach’s film “I, Daniel Blake” in Leicester Square, Gill joined other
campaigners at an invitedvigilagainst deaths from benefit cuts,
on the red carpet.Nichole Drury,
another bereaved relative, spoke about her mother Moira Drury, who had a head injury from domestic
violence, and developed cancer.Moira
was too ill to attend the benefit exam but her reasons were not accepted and
she was cut off.The stress of being
without benefit for months, then a Council Tax demand for nearly £2,000 resulting
from loss of benefit, hastened her death.The banner of names of people who died from benefit cuts and sanctions
was read out by Maggie Zolobajluk.Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, longtime opponents of the Work
Capability Assessment, gave their support at the vigil and spoke to people
individually.

Corbyn
highlighted David’s plight in Parliament at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling Theresa May and ministers
to go and see “I, Daniel Blake”.

Black Triangle
welcomes Gill’s challenge, relevant to the refusal to hold an inquest into
the death ofAlan McArdle,who
died of a heart attack in 2015 within an hour of being read a letter
threatening to stop his Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).Maximus had reported him to the DWP for missing
back-to-work appointments, insisting on sanction when someone called to let
them know he was in hospital.

Many claimants say WinVisible’s
Benefit self-help rights sheet has helped them, including against sanctions. We won
exemption from the face-to-face Work Capability Assessment (WCA) exam for
many vulnerable women, and helped restore benefit to disabled women cut off
for “failure to attend”.

Despite words that people on ESA
Support Group rate with chronic conditions will no longer be retested,
on 1 November the government launched a “Work, health and disability: improving lives” green paper at disability charity Scope, which
includes the proposal to make everyone subject to sanctions, including sick and disabled
people in the Support Group who are currently protected. Disabled campaigners
are determined to fight this new attack on claimants, and recently protested
against national Mind, confronting CEO Paul Farmer against Mind sending their
policy officer Tom Pollard to work for the DWP – tied to lucrative DWP
contracts for the “work cure” for people with mental distress.

Opposition inside
Parliament is also growing.MPs
opposed to the ESA cut due in April 2017, are calling for a debate,
including Green, Labour, SNP and Tory MPs, such as Stephen McPartland, MP for
Stevenage where David Clapson lived.McPartland’s correspondence with the DWP at Gill’s request, where the
DWP replied they knew David was insulin-dependent, forms part of the legal
challenge.

The following statement was delivered by leaflet and read out over 'bullhorn' outside Kilburn Jobcentre on Monday 7 November, the day the reduced overall benefit cap came in.

Reject the weak and rotten ideas of Tory hypocrites!

We say: No to caps on welfare — yes to rent controls

Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group are protesting 11am till Noon Monday 7 November 2016 outside Kilburn Jobcentre, as it's the first day of the welfare cap limiting families to a maximum of £20k a year in benefits (£23K if in London), which includes Housing costs.

Originally under David Cameron and George Osborne, a cap of £26k pa was introduced as it was the "average wage" .. the latest are "the average wage AFTER TAX" ... what will be the next excuse to bring it down? Please note that MPs when asked to just take the average wage themselves, have stuck to their £74,962 per year of TAXPAYERS money (PLUS generous expenses) ... so one rule for the sufferers of laws, another for the lawmakers! Sheer hypocrisy! Happily Cameron out of Parliament and Osborne shunted out of cabinet. Ha ha!

Most of the benefits money goes to private landlords, so the claimants never see most of that money. If council houses were available with low-cost rents then the Housing Benefit bill would be cut at a stroke and there wouldn't be such a hoo-ha about it. Houses ARE being built... but so call 'luxury flats,' by big private developers; and that is causing 'legal' 'Social Cleansing'. We should be taking these properties over for our own class, not for the rich. Public buildings and land should not be sold off on the cheap... National and Local Government deliberately allow the shutdown of public Fire Stations, Libraries, Hospitals, Community Centres, etc,, so we have no places to meet, to not be safe and educated, while the Rich can build their gated communities. Even they are being ripped off... boo hoo.

At last, Sir Phillip Green is being chased legally for taking workers' pensions... the Olympic Stadium was for instance sold to West Ham Football Club for practically nothing and now the TAXPAYER has to pay an additional £50 MILLION to compensate for ill-designed so-called 'retractable seats'. What an oversight by so-called Overseers of the public purse! A resignation has at last occurred. These Private 'Wealth Creators' must be laughing their heads off at your average person. Don't let them divide us ... let's imprison the REAL thieves and take their properties and land back. They are ok with chucking us into underfunded and dangerous jails!

The destructive lingering ideas of Iain Duncan Smith should be dumped. He had to resign in humiliation as Secretary of State for Work & Pensions as he had planned to take money off sick people who need higher toilet seats ... yes this is how they look for savings... instead of stopping the White Elephants of HS2 for example £60 BILLION), Trident (£100 BILLION) etc.

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to allow council housing programme, and to scrap the Work Capability Assessment. The SNP and Green Party voted against Welfare Reform & Work Bill 2015. Before Corbyn's leadership, Labour abstentions allowed that Bill to be passed. Waiting for a 2020 election isn't plausible... we must find parties and organisations NOW that oppose rubbish views and thieving laws. Theresa May is a very weak Prime Minister who doesn't show she knows what she is saying and doing... probably why she won't give a "running commentary on Brexit" for instance... a Government that won't explain itself isn't government. The legal challenge in the High Court may have scuppered her plans. Hee hee!

Let's have an opposition with clear thoughts and reasonable goals FOR US! Workers whether employed or not, must stick together and fix OUR housing problem, not accept Private NON-affordable housing. Let's dump the unravelling right-wing views of the real skiver — the Lazy Rich! An early General Election may rid us of MPs like already dumped Esther McVey!

I
propose that we at least republish those materials that were sat upon
by national news media at the time. (Though I doubt that I would be able
to contribute fresh this time around for health reasons, our 2008
publication is rich in background and can serve as 'we told you so'
background to what has passed since.) Perhaps there could even be scope
for 'Progressive Allaince' responses?

Commenting on Blog Contents

Comments are approved unless abusive, obscene, completely off the subject, disguised advertising or libellous. Publication of a comment does not imply that the blog administrator or KUWG agree with it.

Please note if I respond to comments it is in my Google log in — never 'Anonymous'

Commenters cause less confusion when they use their own names or pen names. A host of 'Anons' can give very mixed messages. Even if you use the technically easier 'Anonymous' button to make a comment you can still put your name at the end.

Benefits sanctioned? Take mass action!

An average of 1700 benefit clamants are sanctioned per year in each London parliamentary constituency. One of them might be writing parliamentary candidates in your polling constituency right now. How about more people who are sanctioned writing candidates in your parliamentary constituency and asking relevant questions at 'hustings' debates in your area?

Meeting structure

Helping you feel at home: We meet weekly in the Small Hall at KingsgateCC and start gathering from 3pm, attempting to start the meetings at about 3:15pm and definitely before 3:30pm.

Bring and share refreshments are included. We are not like the 'No eating or drinking on the premises' jobcentre.

The formal meetings start with firstname and what benefit we are on or a one-liner about what brings us to KUWG. (Pensioners and other allies welcome.)

We then ask for casework from those present, arrange who will help with what case, and go onto discussing campaigning leafleting and such outreach activities. We also arrange who will do the chairing or facilitating and note-taking for the following week. Rotating these roles helps minimise the risk of being dominated by one person and helps us build our skills as we share the workload.

Meetings actually finish at about 5:20pm to allow for putting tables and chairs back and leaving the kitchen facilities ready for the next group.